After years of Democrat housing failures, Olympia’s solution is — wait for it — a new agency and another quarter-billion dollars.

Bob Ferguson’s Housing Fix: More Bureaucracy, More Borrowing, Same Crisis

Gov. Bob Ferguson rolled out a $244 million “historic” housing package and signed an executive order to create a task force to eventually create a brand-new Department of Housing — because apparently the dozens of agencies, billions spent, and 20+ housing bills already passed just haven’t been enough.

Standing in front of an affordable housing complex, Ferguson declared Washington’s housing crisis “urgent,” a bold admission considering Democrats have controlled state government for years while housing costs exploded, supply collapsed, and nearly half of renters became cost-burdened. Now, after the damage is done, Ferguson says help is finally on the way — funded largely by bonds, meaning future taxpayers get the bill.

The plan includes $225 million for the Housing Trust Fund to build or preserve about 4,000 units, money for flood-damaged homes, grants to “modernize” permitting systems, and incentives to convert strip malls into housing — all layered on top of more than $700 million already committed earlier this year. Somehow, after all that spending, the state still admits it needs over one million new homes by 2044.

And because no Democrat announcement is complete without expanding government, Ferguson ordered the creation of a 19-member task force to spend the next year studying how to create a new cabinet-level housing department, with a report due in late 2026 and legislation queued up for 2027. In other words: meetings now, bureaucracy later, results… someday.

Democrats and their allies hailed Ferguson as a “housing governor,” praised zoning mandates, and promised bipartisan support — the same bipartisan support that’s been promised every year while the crisis keeps getting worse.

Bottom line: Democrats spent years creating the housing mess, and now they want credit for borrowing more money, growing government, and promising that this time it’ll work. Read more at the Lynnwood Times.

Republicans Show the Math. Democrats Show the Tax Bill.

Washington House Republicans rolled out an alternative state budget that delivers some uncomfortable news for Democrats: higher taxes aren’t inevitable — they’re a choice.

State Rep. Travis Couture unveiled Affordability First: A Budget for the Working Class, a no-new-taxes plan that fully funds core services while shrinking the size of state government. The premise is simple and inconvenient for the majority party: Washington’s affordability crisis isn’t caused by under-taxation, but by years of runaway spending and a bloated bureaucracy.

Couture pointed to the state’s eye-watering cost of living — housing, childcare, groceries, gas — as proof that Democrats’ tax-and-spend approach isn’t working. Despite the largest tax increases in state history, he notes, residents are paying more and getting less, while government itself ballooned by an 8% spending increase in the last budget.

Democrats insist more taxes are needed to “protect essential services,” but Couture’s proposal blows a hole in that argument. His budget restores nearly $1 billion in Medicaid funding, boosts support for hospitals, and protects food assistance and foster youth programs — all without raising taxes. The savings come from trimming management layers and administrative bloat, not cutting front-line services.

Couture also warned that Democrats may roll out an intentionally “ugly” budget packed with dramatic cuts to scare voters into accepting even more taxes — a familiar playbook in Olympia.

The takeaway? Republicans just put real numbers on the table and proved there’s another path. Democrats can keep pushing tax hikes and crisis narratives — but now they can’t pretend there’s no alternative. Read more at Seattle Red.

Welcome to Washington: Roads Closed, Taxes Open

WSDOT rolled out its latest damage report after another round of atmospheric-river storms, and the picture isn’t pretty. Major highways across Washington are closed, partially shut down, or stuck in bureaucratic limbo while drivers are told to be patient — again.

The biggest mess is US-2 between Skykomish and Leavenworth, where 49 miles of highway are completely inaccessible thanks to mudslides, washouts, and fallen trees. An “emergency” contract is still being finalized just to start repairs on a 12-mile stretch over Stevens Pass, and WSDOT won’t even guess when the road might reopen. Earlier estimates? Try months. In the meantime, I-90 and US-12 are the only east-west lifelines left this winter.

Over on I-90 near North Bend, storms washed out the ground beneath the freeway. Two lanes are closed while crews stabilize the slope — a project expected to drag on for weeks.

SR-20 near Winthrop also washed out, though officials note it’s already closed for winter. Repairs still need to happen before spring, with a month of work planned just to undo the damage.

And on SR-9 in Snohomish, a lane remains closed because of damage that somehow took days to explain — and still comes with no timeline for repairs.

The takeaway? Washington Democrats love to talk about record transportation spending, but when weather hits, the roads crumble, timelines vanish, and drivers are left detouring their lives around a state that can’t seem to manage the basics. Read more at KIRO 7.

Democrats Celebrate Another “Pay Raise” — This One Courtesy of Inflation

Washington Democrats are touting a shiny new “pay boost” for millions of workers in 2026: the state minimum wage will rise to $17.13 an hour, up a whole 47 cents from last year. Cue the press releases and self-congratulations.

What they don’t mention is that this isn’t some bold new reform — it’s an automatic, annual adjustment tied to inflation. The same inflation Democrats helped fuel through years of reckless spending and economic mismanagement. Workers aren’t getting ahead; they’re just trying to tread water while groceries, rent, gas, and childcare keep climbing faster than their paychecks.

The increase applies to most jobs, with carve-outs and exceptions (of course), including lower rates for younger workers and exemptions for certain positions. Tips still can’t count toward wages, and employers get another reminder that Olympia is watching their payrolls closely.

In short: Democrats break the cost of living, then brag about nudging wages up just enough to admit it’s broken. And somehow, they expect applause for it. Read more at The Sun.

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